A Duplicated Dilemma of Sickly Lads
by Kaabisteru
Summary: During helping out Peach with an autumn harvest behind her courtyard, Wally comes across a basket of strange cherries.


**~ Duplicated Dilemma of Sickly Lads ~**

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><p><em>He kept on pulling: but no avail, the plant seemed to stick to the ground like a stubborn Oddish. The boy had to pant a bit again in order to catch his breath.<em>

Wally wiped off some sweat from his forehead: luckily, he found the chilliness of the Mushroom Kingdom's autumn just right to offset his body warming up during the constant work. Looking up behind the courtyard's brick walls the trainer manged to observe how those colorful hills had mysteriously turned into orange as the leafs of the ongoing season. Or perhaps, it was the sunset just going down far away in the horizon behind the castle.

The frail boy felt a bit more recovered up and decided to try again. Determinedly he grasped the leaves of a white turnip, and pulled back while closing his eyes and lips tightly together. And soon well enough, that vegetable popped out from the ground, with a pleasant audible snap of the roots beneath the soil.  
>Wally took a deep breath and coughed to suppress his slight light-headedness. He lifted the vegetable and found himself staring at it. This particular turnip frowned at him whilst having a pouty mouth.<br>"Sorry," he giggled, before turning to the entrance that led him back at the garden.

Nearing the wagon laid next to a central fountain, Wally remembered that he was not working alone: in the east side were all his Pokemon lending him a hand, each doing well in their own ways. Whether it was Gardevoir glowing as she'd mentally raise the vegetables with her firm psychic powers, or Roselia gracefully uprooting them with the use of his _Ingrain_-move. Fluttering far away in it's given patch was his Flygon, collecting vegetables up cleanly in his moderately sized holes after using _Sand Tomb_.

Then there was _Wolt_, a visiting archer of _Pherae_ from continent of _Elibe_. He worked in the east side of the garden. Diligently he pullied those vegetables, not breaking a sweat: obviously he needed not to rest as much as Wally had to. In fact the patch seemed to be done with about soon.

Of course, for all this to happen both had merely traveled through dimensional means, to be even able to meet their otherwise-impossible-to-meet friends or acquaintances.

Wally soon noticed that his eyes had now met with the green-haired archer's, which looked perhaps concerned in a caring way. The trainer sat down on the fountain while watching Wolt started to walk towards him.  
>"Are you all right Wally?" he asked. The frail boy made an assuring smile.<br>"Wolt, it's fine… I'm used to this kind of labor already due training before," Wally chuckled lightly. "Besides, I have my Pokemon to help me out."  
>Even then, Wolt couldn't help feel uneasy for whatever reason. He looked towards the majestic castle walls.<br>"Still, the dusk will draw here soon. I might have to leave some dozens of minutes later back to Master Roy's service." he brought out. "We've got to pick up the pacing in order to get most of these veggies uprooted."

Wally nodded, even if looking down unsure. Probably it wasn't necessary to pull all of them out _today_, but more he would bring in, the more princess would be delighted.  
>"<em>Roger<em>!" he agreed, getting up from the marbled fountain and proceeded spiritedly to his next patch. Wolt smiled as he watched the usually reserved boy almost bounce in his steps before returning to his own. Perhaps Mushroom Kingdom's cheery atmosphere started to catch on him.

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><p>Placing the final (<em>and peculiarly bespectacled<em>) onion on the full wagon, Wally stretched up his body tensely.  
>He had gradually noticed that he was in desperate need to take a break. Perhaps it was due the narrowing sensation in his lungs again, mixed with the increasing fatigue from continuous work. Wally frowned as he started to head to the next full patch at right side of the fountain.<br>But needless to say, he had done well, as now half of the garden had been uprooted from all the possible vegetables.

All of a sudden, he felt a stinging sensation in his throat. Wally coughed loudly and then huffed, sweat running down from his forehead: slowly he plodded a nearest tree he could see and sat down beside it's trunk.  
>He dug through his left pocket and pulled out his respirator- a wave of relief flowing as his lungs felt more opened up.<p>

He caught a whiff of a soothing, sweet aroma: Wally turned to it's direction with a smile, seeing his Roselia trying to calm him by swaying it's roses. They emitted small and green particles which dissolved away under the tree's shade. Wally felt recovered as the refreshing scents from Roselia's _Aromatherapy _filled his every breath.  
>"<em>Thanks...<em> " he mumbled gratefully, petting his Pokemon's back of the head. "What I could without you guys..."

Still, he couldn't help but acknowledge being bit tired to continue right away. The meek boy moved a bit to get a better support and looked up to the sky. The sunset was at it's brightest, the orange sun rays now shining through the towering, puffy clouds at the far right side in his sight. A flock of Goonies were flying through the tangerine-colored sky: possibly moving to warmer locations to escape the upcoming winter.  
>Wally was constantly perplexed why they would possess <em>eyes.<em> _Did they survey through the lands below?_  
>Whatever it was, it would be pointless to make any sense about anything of this surreal world.<p>

Wally hadn't noticed how Wolt had now approached him to the batch as well, probably guided by the invigorating scents that had spread to the courtyard.  
>"Your Pokemon sure does enliven the air up around here." he remarked, sniffing the air enjoyingly. "It's really lovely... just that something I'd need after a long periods of work. "<br>"Thanks Wolt." said Wally. As he got up, he had noticed that the archer was carrying an oval fruit basket containing what appeared to be some handful of cherries. He watched Wolt place them on the lone tree stump near him.  
>"I'll go taking this wagon to the castle's storeroom now." said Wolt, turning back to the fountain. "You'll be okay alone?"<br>"Well, that's why my Pokemon are here, after all. So I'm not technically alone," Wally said reassuringly. The dutiful knight nodded, grabbing the full wagon's handles and headed to the entrance doors.

After Wolt disappeared behind the castle walls, Wally slumped down and rested his chin on his palm. There was some more veggies left, but the evening would indeed draw in some time soon: he couldn't guarantee uprooting all of them, less even half of that.  
>Oh, how much he wanted to get most of them done... but at his state, he wasn't entirely capable of that. Not to mention his Pokemon were in need of rest, too.<p>

For a moment, Wally just sat there, sighing regrettably. It wasn't the first time for the sickly boy lamented about his mental vigor and determination not matching the state of his body. Just how many people tried to make him not do his best due his condition, and even went so far as to hold themselves back against him? It wasn't just the important Pokemon battles; sometimes it would extend so far into laborious or other hardship-filled tasks or journeys he wanted to join in. After all, Wally wasn't too easily to be left alone by friends or relatives around him.

A suppressed but peeved exhale came out from his mouth. But even then, Wally couldn't deny that his limits were lower than that of an average person. It conflicted with his any possible future desires.

Wally's head turned to the sign some distance from him at the opposite side of the courtyard. That had instructions for performing the _Triple Jump _and the_ Wall Kick_: the signature moves of _Mario Bros_ and most of their traveling companions.  
>Speaking of Mario Bros... those adventures they went at looked to be really wacky, yet so whimsical and exhilarating experiences. He didn't wish to feel envious... but knowing that his frail body might not support him through the same hardships as anyone capable of the eponymous plumber duo- it might really signify more than just missing out from amazing experiences lying behind said hardships. And perhaps even more beyond those.<p>

At this rate, Wally didn't noticed how hungry he had become during all the thinking. Working so hard must have made him forget of eating for a while. It'd be no long before he'd feel pretty weary - and to even exhibit that in the public wouldn't be a very pleasant experience to him.  
>He glanced at the lone basket sitting on the stump, reminded by Wolt bringing the cherries from before.<em> Were they a snack for the frail trainer? That's really considerate of him.<em>

Approaching the basket, he picked up one of the cherries, about to munch a berry until his hand came to a sudden halt just near his open 's eyes went wide.  
>Both cherries possessed, bizarrely enough, the trademark simple eyes as the most of the inanimate objects of the Mushroom World- possibly signifying it wasn't just any kind of a berry. But the trainer's curious expression disappeared after a moment.<br>"Oh well, I've seen _crazier..._ and even then, I had eaten _more crazier_ in occasional visits to Princess's dinners..."" he recalled, still hearing the sheepishly assuring statements from the Toads and the princess in his mind. "This wouldn't be anything worse than _that,_ right...?"

He plucked both berries from the blue stem and casually threw them in his mouth.  
>To his surprise, the cherry tasted quite yummy: it had noticeably more luscious and juicy flavor to it compared to most of the ordinary cherries back in his own dimension. Not to mention how it was a complete opposite to the not-so-savory Cheri Berry which he'd feed to his Pokemon instead.<p>

But right when he swallowed it down, Wally felt an uncomfortable sensation around his chest. His body started to tense up against his will.

_**"?!" **_

He grasped his chest with both arms and started gasping for air in dense huffs. The constricting feeling made it difficult for Wally to breathe - forcing him to squat down to regain composure.  
>Nauseated and barely able to think, he felt an energy growing bigger as it swirled inside him. The best he could describe it felt like something was ripping his soul away from his body, right through his bent back.<p>

After a moment, he felt body stiffened roughly: cold chills ran through his spine as he sensed the overwhelmingly swirling sensation penetrating out from his back.

Meanwhile Gardevoir already sensed something being wrong with his trainer. He launched away from the fountain's border he was resting on and made a swooping arc in the air as it landed next to his trainer.

_He froze to his tracks all of a sudden._

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><p>It took few minutes for Wally to recover up. As soon as he did, he immediately grasped his respirator and took more deeper inhales than usual. Few harsh coughs followed right after.<br>The trainer raised his head: his body trembled and felt overally weak due the abnormally high tension from before. Gladly the nauseated feeling seemed to have diminished but Wally couldn't avoid seeing bit of stars and doubles in his vision for some while.  
>"I knew this was a bad idea... I shouldn't have..." he murmured in annoyed tone. This instantly won over his first sensations upon eating a <em>Super Mushroom<em> from his soup after being mixed mistakenly by one of the cooking Toads in the castle's kitchen.  
>Thinking about that made Wally murmur in a snarling tone, while letting his body lay down on the grassy ground.<p>

"**_Ow_**_!_"

Wally jerked away painedly: his head had hit something hard behind him. Instinctively the trainer scratched his aching head, gritting his teeth in pained manner.  
>"<em>Ouch... what was that? There is no tree behind me, is there...?<em>"

Now the meek boy caught something peculiar: his voice seemed unusually louder than before. Moreover, it felt as if it certainly echoed behind him.  
>He slowly looked behind himself.<p>

A loud scream went briefly through the courtyard.

What had appeared before Wally was an exact doppelganger of himself, repeating all of his movements and expressions exactly the same time as he did. It was like looking to a mirror- except this one was completely alive, flesh and blood. Clearly living like a human being.

Wally had to crawl away from his doppelganger until hitting the grass hedge behind him: so did his doppelganger, although disappearing under the tree's shade. It was a very surreal and strange sensation, watching his double displaying the same terrified and observing expression he did.  
>The frail boy looked to the entrance of the area he was currently in: most of his Pokemon were already witnessing what happened. Poor fellas, they all appeared to be confused on identifying their true trainer.<br>"D-don't worry- I-I'm a-alright. I'll figure this out, hopefully." Wally assured, even if in sheepish tone. But he started to get little bit more curious.

He slowly approached his doppelganger, looking it into its eyes. The double naturally repeated, leaning more close. Then Wally touched his face- soon feeling the other's warm hand on his cheek.  
>He turned at the cherries sitting on the stump. The trainer knew how Mushroom World had some unusual or interesting items or edible powerups that tended to break some boundaries to grant useful, interesting abilities for its' individuals to use in their everyday tasks<br>However, this felt completely a first time he got to experience them on his own. Naturally he wasn't going to let off the opportunity to put them in a good use.

He turned to the entrance were his Pokemon still stared from, looking behind them to the courtyard along with his double. And after another glance to the basket full of these cherries... he knew exactly what to do.

_Now to hope that the double wouldn't make him go through pain after consuming those__ strange cherries._

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><p><em>Wally, PKMN (c) GameFreak, Nintendo<br>__Wolt (c) Intelligent Systems, Nintendo_


End file.
